Asus ZenWatch 2 Copies "Apple Watch's Best Feature"
“As it turns out with every revolutionary product that Apple has created,” [Apple CEO Tim Cook] said about the [Apple] Watch and its [Digital C]rown, “a breakthrough in user interface was required.”
The Taiwanese electronics company Asus seems to have taken note. Today the company introduced a second version of its Android Wear smartwatch, the ZenWatch 2, at tech expo Computex in Taiwan that seems to have drawn some aesthetic inspiration from the Apple Watch.
The big news here isn’t that Asus is copying Apple (right down to the non-traditional 10:09 time shown on the ZenWatch 2’s display). Everyone does that. The big news here isn’t that Asus’ version of the “digital crown” acts solely as a power toggle, either. The real big news here is that TIME (and presumably a ton of other shortsighted outlets/critics/fans/etc.) actually think Apple Watch’s Digital Crown is the thing’s “crowning achievement.”
It’s not.
In fact, I think it’s going to be the first deprecated element of the entire platform, with the “friends” button (or bezel edge) gaining “home screen” duties along with touch/hold inertial scrolling and a centered orientation to replicate — and extend — the Digital Crown’s actual functionality. As I’ve written before, from a technological and manufactory standpoint, the latter has two strikes against it, and its inclusion seems to have been motivated solely by the perceived need for some traditional wristwatch design cue in order that the fashion industry might demonstrate quicker adoption over the first couple of device generations.
I don’t have a problem with form over function, mind you. I just think the supply chain and Apple Care eventually will, particularly when the geeky smartwatch stigma wears off with the mainstream.